Many conventional coating systems use dedicated racks to hold components as they are subjected to various coating processes. These dedicated racks usually include numerous different types of fixtures that are used to hang the components on the rack.
One of the drawbacks with these types of fixture is that they are typically component-specific making them costly, inflexible and a challenge to store. In addition, such fixtures are difficult to maintain due to continuous cleaning that is required due to the repeated coating of the fixtures.
One common application for such racks is using the racks to electrocoat the components while they are on the rack. One of drawbacks with using such racks in electrocoating applications is that it is difficult to ensure that the components are electrically grounded. Electrical grounding of the components is required in order to adequately electrocoat the components.
Another drawback with using such racks in electrocoating applications where the components are dipped into a liquid-filled tank is that since the parts are merely hanging from such racks, the buoyancy of the liquid will often cause the components to come off the racks. When the components are forced from the rack by the liquid, the detached components can obstruct the overall operation of the system.
Another drawback with using conventional dedicated racks is that they can be relatively inefficient when it comes to maximizing the number of components that can be coated per cycle. In addition, the weight of such dedicated racks reduces the number of components that can be added to the rack before the rack reaches a designed weight limit.